Joseph Price
Dean, Conservatory
Education
M.F.A., Southern Methodist University; B.F.A., University of Minnesota Duluth
About Joseph Price
Stephens College is proud to announce the appointment of Joseph Price as Dean of the Conservatory for the Performing Arts, effective July 6, 2026.
Price brings more than twenty-five years of senior leadership experience in higher education and professional performing arts organizations, and over three decades as a director, producer, educator, and administrator. Price is deeply committed to student-centered training, faculty collaboration, and nationally visible artistic programming. Joseph Price recently served as Executive Director of Interact Center for the Visual and Performing Arts in Minnesota. He previously held academic leadership roles as Department Head of Theatre and Dance and Producer of Tent Theatre at Missouri State University, and as Program Director for the University of Minnesota/Guthrie Theater BFA Actor Training Program. He spent 11 years at the University of Missouri–Kansas City/Kansas City Repertory Theatre, where he served as Associate Head of MFA Acting.
A founding member of Chicago’s A Red Orchid Theatre, Price has directed extensively in regional and academic settings. His professional directing credits include Clybourne Park, Xanadu, The 39 Steps, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, Well, Painted Alice, Bright Ideas, Blue/Orange, Fuddy Meers, The Shape of Things, The Pillowman, and the world premiere of James Still’s The Velvet Rut. Additional directing work includes The Cripple of Inishmaan (Kansas City Actors Theatre), A Steady Rain (Riverside Theatre), and the world premiere of Wild Boy: The Musical, with a book by Sesame Street head writer Lou Berger.
His academic directing credits include The American Clock, Uncle Vanya, A Bright New Boise, Enron, Anything Goes, Present Laughter, Boesman and Lena, Tape, The Importance of Being Earnest, Polaroid Stories, Mad Forest, and Killer Joe. He also collaborated with Carl Wilkens to develop a stage adaptation of I’m Not Leaving, chronicling Wilkens’ experience during the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
Price oversaw interdepartmental planning for the construction and opening of the John Goodman Amphitheatre at Missouri State, integrating academic programming and professional production operations to ensure a seamless launch—experience that speaks directly to complex facilities management, production oversight, and institutional collaboration.
As an actor, Price has appeared in numerous regional theatre productions, commercials, and the CBS series Dangerous Curves. Early in his career, he starred as “Choo Choo the Clown” in the Preschool Express video series. He holds an MFA from Southern Methodist University.